1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an image processing apparatus and an image processing method for generating synthetic image data to enable a plurality of images to be displayed on a screen or printed on a recording paper.
2. Description of the Related Art
Information processing apparatuses such as personal computers, peripherals of personal computers, digital cameras, and communication terminals made it possible to operate devices as well as see images and characters by being equipped with display means such as monitor screens. While these information apparatuses become smaller in size, they are being provided with advanced functions and multiple functions. In accordance with this trend, display means set up on the information processing apparatuses is capable of displaying many images and characters arranged side by side for each item. On the other hand, displayed contents are complicated, thereby reducing visibility and operability.
In the past, to display more information on a display screen divided into a plurality of regions, images and characters are displayed side by side for each item. To improve visibility, a region selected by a user is displayed in enlargement. This enables the user to grasp an entire structure of the display and confirm the contents of a desired image and a character in detail.
Note that for Patent Documents in this area, there are Jpn. Pat. Appln. Laid-Open Publication No. 9-258709 (Patent Document 1) and Jpn. Pat. Appln. Laid-Open Publication No. 2003-178318 (Patent Document 2).
However, techniques in the above-mentioned Documents is to display in enlargement only a desired region inside a divided screen, thus causing inconvenience mainly in medical and industrial fields. For example, in the medical field, image data outputted from video apparatuses such as an ultrasonic image-pickup device, MRI, electronic microscope, and endoscope is so constituted that together with an image of a subject, additional information associated with the image data is displayed. Consequently, in displaying a plurality of images, a picked-up image is arranged with the additional information on each divided region of each screen and displayed together to be printable as well. For example, on each divided screen, patient's information and identification information of the endoscope are displayed in proximity to the image of the subject as the additional information of that image. Further, the patient's information is, for example, directly inputted by the user from a operating section, while the identification information is also directly inputted from the endoscope device. In such example, of the images collectively shown, what the user selected and displayed in enlargement, for instance, to enable details of the patient's image to be seen.